Home
+
Published : 26 Nov 2025, 02:31 PM
Men and women have lined up at the Phulpori Government Primary School polling centre since the morning. The situation is peaceful. Zahirul Islam, a journalist from TV channel Uttarer Sur, reports directly from the centre. Another journalist from the daily Bhorer Alo takes photos. Observers are on the scene, as are law enforcers.
Suddenly, slogans ring out through the air. An attempt is made to take over the centre. The building empties as voters rush out.
Such was the scene of the election exercise conducted at the Border Guard Bangladesh Headquarters in Dhaka’s Peelkhana. As the situation “escalates”, the election officers ask the BGB for help.
Patrolling BGB members then arrived in a vehicle within a few minutes, warning unauthorised people in the area that they would bring the situation under control. Within a few minutes, the BGB personnel chased the occupants out of the centre. Three were detained and taken away.
When the situation calmed down, voting resumed at the centre.
Chief Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin, four election commissioners, secretaries, and the BGB director general, along with about 100 attendees were present to observe the exercise.
About 300 BGB personnel were involved in various duties in the exercise, including as candidates, voters, and agents.
The parliamentary elections and July Charter referendum will be held in the first half of February, and the EC has said the schedule will be announced in the first half of December. BGB personnel trained in how to deal with undesirable situations during the elections amid the prevailing law and order situation took part in the exercise.
CEC Nasir Uddin said, "The BGB has organised this election exercise after taking our election culture into consideration. I think this exercise was conducted after accounting for all the complications that generally occur in elections and the way the elections are conducted."
The exercise also highlighted the Election Commission’s preparations for such incidents.
"I thank the authorities for providing training on how to perform election duties. Everyone saw how we conducted election preparations. I am very happy that our law-enforcing agencies are training their personnel in their duties. I hope we can present a beautiful election as promised to this nation."
The CEC also said that if an undesirable environment is created during the elections, it will also be stopped.
He expressed the hope that an undesirable environment will not develop for the polls as the law and order situation is gradually improving.
Nasir Uddin said, "“Areas at risk during the election will be divided into red, yellow, and green zones and separate measures will be taken with the deployment strategy (of law enforcers) accordingly. A meeting with law-enforcing agencies is scheduled for Nov 30. The deployment strategy will be finalised then."
This time, over 127 million voters will be eligible to cast their ballots in parliamentary polls and referendum. Voting will take place in about 350,000 polling booths in about 43,000 polling stations.
In the year since it was formed, the Nasir Uddin-led EC has yet to hold any elections. The general election will be its first.
The EC has also organised a mock vote on Saturday as part of its preparations.
